Crime & Safety

Ross Police Identify Bank Robbery Suspects, Reveal Details of Wild Chase

Police arrest suspects after they ditch their getaway car on Interstate 79.

Ross Township police say one of two men who held up the Fidelity Bank at 1009 Perry Highway in Ross late Wednesday afternoon was armed with a handgun.

Mario Robinson, 24, of New Castle, and Regan Pierre, 20, of New Kensington, were arrested after a wild car and foot chase through several North Hills suburbs.

Bank employees called 911 shortly after 4 p.m. to report the robbery. Ross Police Detectives were in the area with a prisoner on an unrelated call and spotted a black Honda coupe fleeing the scene, Detective Brian Kohlhepp said.

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The detectives followed the car, which sped west on Rochester Road while passing other cars on the yellow center line. The Ross detectives were unable to continue the pursuit because they had the prisoner with them, but they were able to relay its direction to other officers and neighboring departments, Kohlhepp said.

An Ohio Township police officer spotted the Honda on Mt. Nebo Road. Kohlhepp said the Honda sped north on Interstate 79, then struck a guide rail on the Mingo Road overpass just north of the Wexford interchange.

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The two men bailed out of the getaway vehicle and ran.

Northern Regional Police Sgt. John Sicilia first spotted Robinson down a hill from the getaway car.

“I was driving down Mingo Road and saw one actor in the woods. I ordered him to stop and get down on his knees,” Sicilia told the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review.

A few minutes later, a resident from a nearby neighborhood called 911 to report a man in a white hoodie was behind the houses and appeared out of breath and sweating.

“I looked out my window. There were about 25 police cars pulling into my driveway and along the road,” Amanda Murray of Marshall Township told the Tribune-Review.

“I ran out the door, and an officer got out of his car and said, ‘Ma’am, stop. Go back into your house,’ ” Murray told the Trib.

Pierre was arrested a short time later without incident.

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